Blood Brothers is a poignant biography of the experiences of Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Christian who lived through the violent and traumatic events surrounding the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and the ensuing political conflict that plagues the region still today.

I found myself teary-eyed at several points throughout this book. The most powerful parts were the detailed descriptions of how Chacour, his family, and his village of Biram, were led out of their homes by Israeli soldiers with promises that Biram would be defended against ravaging militants. When Chacour and his village returned they discovered that they had been deceived, and eventually, the village was bulldozed. Chacour tells the story of his own village, but notes that the same story unfolded in other Palestinian villages.

Chacour tells of how Palestinians and Jews lived in peace with one another for centuries before the early 20th century. With the success of the Zionist movement and the horrible atrocities of WW2 and the holocaust, European Jews began emigrating en masse to Palestine. Ironically, while Western nations strongly supported Jewish immigration into Palestinian on the basis that they needed a homeland (Chacour fully accepts that they needed a place to live in peace and security as they were clearly unwelcome in Europe), Western states refused Jews entry into their own nations.

Chacour emphasizes that between WW1 and WW2, the peaceful and violent tactics of Palestinians fail to gain them any sympathy in the international arena, whose leaders ignored Palestinian diplomacy while continually urging Palestinians to accept their Jewish brethren while European states had persecuted them and refused to make amends by opening Jewish immigration quotas.

Utterly mind-boggling is the fact that he has been called an anti-semite by some reviews on Amazon. Anyone who reads this book will see that he exhibits a deep love and admiration for Jews, and expresses heartfelt sympathy for the persecution of Jews throughout European history and culminating in the holocaust. Chacour points out that these sad facts only make the Palestinian plight more ironic.

At times, I felt Chacour depends too much on the kindness and good nature of human beings, and that this made his political opinions somewhat naive. By the end of the book, however, I concluded that this was not a fair conclusion. He understands very well that Palestinians were persecuted and that Israel has a right to exist, but he doesn't believe violence ever leads to peace. Whether this opinion is very naive or very wise is up to the reader to decide.

Lastly, one should always be skeptical when reading personal accounts of political conflicts. One man can only see so much, and if one wants to really discover the facts of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, one has to read several books. This is not a book of facts, but it is not intended to be. Thousands of books on the history of this conflict have been written, and any earnest and disinterested endeavor to learn about what actually happened will not result in much confusion as to what occurred (is occurring). Note that there is no devoid of personal stories and ethnographies either, although I would very people have ever read these, even though they would do everyone some good. But this is a rich addition to the literature, in that it successfully de-dehumanizes the Palestinian people and avoids anything but the most basic historical political facts.

Blood Brothers is the story of a very brave family during an incredibly controversial time. This conflict between Israel and Palestine is an ongoing struggle and causes a large amount of change and strife on both sides of the issue. As native Palestinians this family, the Chacour's, are part of this difficult journey with their village. This struggle beginning with them being tricked out of their house to losing some village members and the heartbreak of knowing life could never go back to "normal."

This book revolves around a young boy who we see grow up throughout the book named, Elias Chacour. He is a Palestinian Christian, who lived in a small town Biram for most of his young life. This boy is full of life and a spirit that grows throughout the entire story.

His father, a peaceful man with incredible amounts of wisdom, plays a large role in this Elias's life as well as rest of his family and the village. At one point Elias's father and two brothers were torn from their family and taken away by Israeli soldiers. After finding their way back this is all he did, "turning those sad eyes upon us, `if someone hurts you, you can curse him. But this would be useless. Instead, you have to ask the Lord to bless the man who makes himself your enemy. And do you know what will happen? The Lord will bless you with inner peace-and perhaps your enemy will turn from his wickedness. If not, the Lord will deal with him.'"

The strength Elias's finds within himself and family to deal with these real issues that surround him is inspiring. This is a characteristic that we should all strive to have.

I am thankful for this author's courage and heart. His foundation for his humanitarian work is from his understanding that he was born a baby before all other human added designations were added that divide human from human. There are situations in the book that can stir you up and also make you wonder at God's provision for the Middle East. Pick this up and also feel good that you are supporting a peace maker who has built Isreal's largest private school where kids from all sides can come and get an education and play together.

I am thankful for this author's courage and heart. His foundation for his humanitarian work is from his understanding that he was born a baby before all other human added designations were added that divide human from human. There are situations in the book that can stir you up and also make you wonder at God's provision for the Middle East. Pick this up and also feel good that you are supporting a peace maker who has built Isreal's largest private school where kids from all sides can come and get an education and play together.

Chacour transports the reader into his experience as a Palestinian child growing up amidst the turmoil of Zionist takeover in Israel. The experience of his family's diaspora and his personal journey from an exile living far from his destroyed home to his education in Europe to his return home to help sow the seeds of peace according to the Christian tradition prescribed in the Beatitudes.

This book shows a side to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that is far too often untold or dismissed. It is the side of the exiled, those forced off their land to create the modern nation of Israel. In no way is this book a polemical jab against the Jewish nation, rather it is the true story of a Christian Palestinian working within Israel to create a peaceful land where all are truly welcomed and are safe.

This is a must read for all. It will open your eyes.

Chacour transports the reader into his experience as a Palestinian child growing up amidst the turmoil of Zionist takeover in Israel. The experience of his family's diaspora and his personal journey from an exile living far from his destroyed home to his education in Europe to his return home to help sow the seeds of peace according to the Christian tradition prescribed in the Beatitudes.

This book shows a side to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that is far too often untold or dismissed. It is the side of the exiled, those forced off their land to create the modern nation of Israel. In no way is this book a polemical jab against the Jewish nation, rather it is the true story of a Christian Palestinian working within Israel to create a peaceful land where all are truly welcomed and are safe.

This is a must read for all. It will open your eyes.

Despite one dubious negative remark questioning the accuracy of this book (to which my response is, the powder keg was already lit a long time ago- the war already started), it is excellent. It is not for those who are looking for a history book, granted, but it nevertheless exposes some Zionist atrocities (so often hidden in the US) while at the same time acknowledging the wrongdoings of the Arab side of the conflict and finally it is a call for peace. A lot of people make the mistake of labeling themselves "pro-Israel" or "pro-Palestine" but this book has it right- Pro-Peace.

Loved it! I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't heard a Christian Palestinian perspective on this issue. This book is one of the best on this topic that I have read.

It seems that much has been written about the Middle East in terms of religion, culture, history, economics, geopolitical significance, etc. But it seems very little has been written about the region in terms of brotherhood. The notion almost rankles upon first utterance, yet Elias Chacour, a Christian Palestinian approaches the topic from this rather unique perspective. Having experienced the destruction of his home village of Biram by Israeli soldiers in 1951, one would expect him to have something to say. While portraying injustices honestly, he refuses to draw harsh generalizations. As Israeli soldiers or Zionist groups such as the Irgun destroy local villages, Chacour notes the sentiment of the native Jewish people in the area who were "shocked and disgusted" and who protested such activities via their religious leaders. Although the book is not enthralling in terms of literary quality, it is compelling in terms of ideas.

Showing promise as a young student, Chacour is given the rare privilege of attending seminary in Paris and becomes the first Palestinian Arab to earn a degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His educational exploits expose him not only to Jews with a genuine compassion for Palestinian suffering but to Christians with very little. Returning to Palestine, he accepts a position as a priest in the small, embittered Palestinian town of Ibillin. Ironically, it is through the malice of Ibillin's Christians that Chacour becomes intimately acquainted with his own propensity for violence. Having reached his limit of exposure to interfamilial strife in the town, Chacour emotes, "Silent, still, I lay there, aware for the first time that I was capable of vicious, killing hatred. Aware that all men everywhere - despite the thin, polite veneer of society - are capable of hideous violence against other men." At this point Chacour comes to more deeply understand the forgiveness offered by Jesus, who refused to hate while vicious hatred nailed him to a wooden cross. Chacour begins to understand that stopping the cycle of violence starts with an individual decision to retaliate, not with violence, but with forgiveness, with kindness, and an abiding commitment to emulate Jesus' act of self-sacrifice in the name of reconciliation.

Chacour notes that the land of Israel is not only promised to Abraham and his biological sons, but to those who had become Abraham's offspring by faith in Jesus, the promised savior of Jews and non-Jews alike. By faith or genealogy, both Jews and Christians trace their heritage to Abraham. "The Jews and the Palestinians are blood brothers," his father reminded him, "We must never forget that."

I would recommend this book to everybody. It gives us a fair, and much needed, insight into the Palestinian Christian perspective within the greater framework of the Middle East conflict. The personal testimony and example that Elias Chacour gives us is compelling and convicting. What if we all started to act with the faith, love and renconcilation Elias promotes in this inspiring account of his life.
This is a must for anyone wanting to learn about how a Christian (or anyone with a humanitarian worldview) should respond to conflict and crisis.

Abuna Elias is a humble, truthful and courageous man who didn't run away from his responsibilities under pressure nor did he disregard the truth of the Lord in any capacity. This book is a must read for anyone who wishes to seek an accurate treatment of the Palestinian people from 1948-........

I want to add this to what I said in my first reveiw.
Chacour wrote another book, "We Belong to the Land." In it he tells us that Biram was destroyed by the IDF on September 16-17, 1953.
But in Blood Brothers he tells us that the Jews invited the people of Biram to return on Christmas day, 1952 and there is a big emotional build-up to a discription of the IDF destroying the village on Christmas morning. He claims that the IDF waited for the villagers to arrive before they blew up the village while they watched in horror. While telling us how forgiving he is, is he trying to make readers, especially Christians, hate Israel?
Even where his mother died is different in the two books. In Blood Brothers we are told that "Age had eventually forced Mother and Father to move from Gish to Haifa. "It grieved me that she had died so far from the home she longed for..." In "We Belong to the Land" she died in Jish and he comments, "Father could not remain in Jish alone. At the age of eighty-two he moved to Haifa..."
How can we believe anything this man tells us?
Jesus is truth. His followers love truth, too.
Christian publishing companies have a sacred duty to print only the truth.

I have the honor of having met Mr. Elias Chacour. In fact I have seen the ruins of the town of Biram, and the sign the Israleis errected that claims the Arabs left voluntarily. It is heartbreaking to know what happened to this man, but the story of his school (which I know) and his quest for peaceare truley hope for mankind. You can deny this books truth if you want to, and although I would very much disagree with you, I still think you can see in the book what determination to gain peace can bring to a people.

Father Elias Chacour's book gave me my first understanding of the Arab Israeli conflict. I had always believed, prior to the foundation of the modern state of Israel, the region was virtually unoccupied and the recent conflicts came from invaders. This was not the case.

I do wish Rev. Dr. Chacour had talked more about earlier conflicts in the region between the Ottomans all the way to the British expulsion. His narrative leads one to believe the entire region was at peace for centuries prior to 1943. A bit more understanding of the remorse felt by some Israeli's would provide a more balanced account also.

Since I read this I have had a much more open mind with regard to the Middle East conflicts. I have also had chance to meet a former Israeli soldier who was a young man during the 50's and 60's. He described to me razing Palestinian villages and firing into homes occupied by peaceful families. The images of dismembered body parts exploding in front of his tank are still with him today. So repulsed was he that, after his military time was served, he renounced his citizenship and left Israel forever.

Father Chacour was nominated for the Noble Peace Prize for his efforts to unite the region.

Elias Chacour presents an eyewitness account as a Palestinian Christian who lived in Palestine during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 when his family, along with many other Palestinian families, lost their homes in Israel. A journalist reviewing his book has discredited many of his statements. However, I find that many of the journalist's comments do not really contradict the author's personal account. I believe the judgment of this journalist to be rash and the book to be an excellent, first-hand account of a person who lived through a very traumatic time period. Elias Chacour is alive and actively involved in running a college he established in Israel for Palestinians (welcoming Christians, Jews, and Muslims). If the reviewer traveled to Israel to check out his story, I wonder why he did not try to contact Elias Chacour personally. I also recommend that he read Elias Chacour's subsequent book, "We Belong to the Land," published by Harper Collins in 1992 (copyright 1990). The book gives further documentation and describes his ministry of healing and reconciliation between Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Israel.

There is some ambiguity in the use of the word "village" that may account for the reviewer's impression that Chacour deliberately misrepresented facts. The land of Israel/Palestine was dotted with mountain villages and olive groves, just as Elias Chacour described his own village. Villages were composed of people who were related in kinship. The reviewer speaks of Jewish communities, Maronite Christian communities, and Melkite Christian communities in Biram. These communities are clearly not related to one another by kinship. Hence, they would not consider themselves to be from the same village, though they may all be from Biram. The same situation appears to be true of Jish. Hence, when the author speaks of what happened to his village of Biram, it does not follow that he is referring to all villages of Biram.

The reviewer implied that no slaughter occurred in Jish. He cites as evidence that an Arab Christian who was 16 years old at the time did not recall any massacre happening there. In Chacour's book "We Belong to the Land," Chacour states that many of the men disappeared. He also states that at an age between eight and twelve, he discovered a grave where a number of men were buried. He then concluded that the men of Jish were massacred. Chacour relates his personal experience in this account. It does not follow that all people of Jish would know of the missing men since they would not all belong to the same village/kinship group. Furthermore, the observation of missing men in Jish does not imply that the women and children of the village knew what happened to their men. Many people simply disappeared in these trying times. Some, as Elias Chacour relates concerning his father and brother, were simply dumped across the Israeli-Jordan border. He and his mother would never have known what happened to Chacour's father and brother had they not traveled up to Lebanon and across the border back to their family. Since the people who witnessed the mass burial were from Biram, it does not follow that the people who lived in Jish would have witnessed the same thing. I do not see how the reviewer can discount the eyewitness testimony of one person based upon the fact that another person who lived in the vicinity at the same time (nearly fifty years ago) did not see the same thing.

The reviewer discredits Chacour's claim that the city of Biram was bombed by stating that the ancient homes still exist. Again the reviewer may be confused by what is Elias Chacour's village. The fact that his village was destroyed does not mean that all ancient homes in Biram were destroyed. However, the fact that the people of his Melkite village tried to regain their property in Biram for a period of several generations, as the author also describes in his book, is well documented. As to the fact of the bombing, Elias Chacour offers evidence in his book, "We Belong to the Land," by showing a photograph taken in 1972 of the remains of his mountain village. In the background he also points out the church that remained standing.

The reviewer reports that Chacour claimed his ancestors lived in Biram for thousands of years, but that Melkite Christians moved into the land much later. What Chacour claimed, as clarified in "We Belong to the Land," is that Palestinians lived in the land from the time of Abraham. He also claimed that both Jews and Gentiles lived in the land during the time of Christ. He did not claim that his family ancestry permanently resided in Biram for thousands of years. At least he does not claim this in the book "We Belong to the Land." I think the reviewer may have misunderstood his meaning.

The journalist claims that Chacour presents himself as forgiving the Israelis for a massacre that didn't happen. In the chaotic times of the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 when many Palestinians disappeared, I am amazed that the reviewer can so easily discredit a young boy's personal experience. Palestinians, especially those still living from the time of the Arab-Israeli War, rarely have had the opportunity to get an education. If you want to understand what the Palestinians went through from somebody who personally lived through it, I highly recommend this book. It is not a trained journalist's account, but it is an honest personal witness. It is also a powerful Christian testimony from a man who has done much to better the lives of the Palestinian people.

I had no idea what really happened when Israel was formed. I equated "Palestinian" with "terrorist". When I read this book I realized that I had simply swallowed the "official view" on this hook, line, and sinker as so many other Americans have done.

This book was a revelation. There is really not the least hint of animosity--just a desire to get the real story out and figure out how to help the situation.

I have read the review that says this is all a pack of lies. I urge you to read it yourself and see what you think.

Remember, what usually happens is that the winners write the history books. I have heard Israeli scholars talk about how their history textbooks, for example, paint an extremely one-sided story of the history.

Just like you hear people denying the holocaust as if it were all a big hoax, you are going to hear denials of a book like this. Of course you should investigate any claim, but the opinions of a few people brought up on a diet of nationalist textbooks does not a scientific study make.

Read it yourself, judge for yourself.

We, as christians, use to think about Israel as the great nation of God. There is no problem with that statement. But since I had met Father Chacour on my trip to Palestine in 1998 my view have change. Later I read the books of this honest and humble master of life. I think that everyone who wants to know more about Palestines should read this kind book and compare with the information comming from the media. This book is full of an objective information that inform the reader about the suffering, punishment and faithfulless situation of the people from that land. Probably, when you finished the book, "stones and deserts may have another meaning in life." If Israel was blessed to bless all the nations, why they treat palestinians like they were treated by Nazis. Maybe because the suffer should be heal before been goverment. Israel need to take time and heal the nation to be free and let others be free too. Read this book and you will know why.

Regardless of what some of the previous reviews have said, this book tackles issues that others are afraid to engage. Elias Chacour shows what life can be like when people take the Gospel seriously and take Jesus at his words. This book is inspiring and demands action from Christians around the world. Chacour shows Jesus' passion for justice and reconciliation and the power that those two have when lived out. I myself am a Palestinian Christian and I find myself struggling with the same issues as Chacour. His book brings hope and a real face to a place where I felt very alone. The detailed accounts of suffering at the hands of Israel could be seen as mere propaganda if they were nor mathced with Chacours struggle to forgive.

The Palestinian people will never forget, but we must forgive. This book is a good foundation in learning what is necessary to begin forgiving. Blessings to you as you read this incredible testimony of God's faithfulsness.